From a Distance
by Dany
Summary: Some things can only be seen from a distance. Some people can only be loved, when they were hated first. DxH SLASH
1. Part One: Everything Stays Different

**Author:** Dany  
**Rated:** PG-13 (for now)  
**Spoilers:** So far none.  
**Summary:** Some things can only be seen from a distance. Some people can only be loved, when they were hated first. D/H SLASH  
**Disclaimer:** I do not claim or own the characters. I'm just borrowing them :)  
**Feedback:** Sure, mail me/review and tell me what you think :)  
  


  
**Part One: Everything Stays Different**

  
I watch you as you enter the Great Hall, my eyes following your every move. You look tired and worn, your eyes slightly bloodshot and still half-closed. It's not the first time you come to breakfast like this. It's been like this for the past two years.  
  
You think I don't notice. But I do. I always noticed everything concerning you, right from the moment I met you. Of course you never knew because all I was to you was just another thorn in your side. Well, that was then this is now.  
  
I'm not saying things have changed between us because god knows it would be a lie. And I may lie to others but I do not lie to myself. I never have. You always do.  
  
Your friends ask you if you're okay and you look at them for a moment considering if you should tell them the truth or not. _Nightmares_ you finally whisper and although I can't hear from this distance I know you've said it. Because you say it most of these days. Sometimes you lie but I know these nightmares are haunting you every night.  
  
You stopped speaking to most people long ago and I often see you alone in the library, reading for hours and casting everyone who dares to disturb you dark glances. And I know if I could see your eyes at that moment, they'd be empty.  
  
Your friends worry but I know you brush it off with _I'll survive_ or _You worry to much_. I've never heard you utter those words but I know you say them often. Don't ask me why, I just do.  
  
So now as you drink your coffee and eat your toast I know the peaceful atmosphere at your table is not going to last long. It never does once you arrive. Granger asks you something and you just scowl at her, snapping at her _No I don't_.  
  
Even from a distance I can see Weasley's hair turn a brighter shade of red as his temper rises. _Don't talk to her like that_, he says and I know you are narrowing your eyes. _Leave me alone, it's none of your business_, you say in a tone that makes both your friends and the rest of the table recoil from you. You don't need to swear anymore to scare people because your voice sounds dark and unpleasant nonetheless. It's like there's no emotion in it.  
  
God, how I hate your voice.  
  
The shock of your house'mates' wears off quickly and it doesn't take much time for you and Weasley to start another fight. Granger tries to sort things out but like always no one listens to her.  
  
Someone nudges me in the side and I scowl. _It's starting again_ the voice whispers in my ear but I pay no attention to it. As if I wasn't the first to notice. I always am. I always was.  
  
I watch as you jump up from your bench, and so does Weasley and his sidekicks. _Who do you think you are?!_ Weasley screams but you barely react. He doesn't notice and continues. _What is wrong with you?!_ He asks again, trying to grip your shoulders to probably shake you but you flinch away from his touch like you're burned.  
  
Even from a distance I can see the hurt look in Weasley's eyes but when you turn and I catch a glimpse of your eyes, they show nothing. There's no fire and no emotion.  
  
And I know that I hate your eyes more than anything.  
  
Finally the staff members can separate you and Weasley – or more like Weasley and the rest of Gryffindor from you. Like always you don't say a word, simply glare at everyone before you pack your things and leave the table.  
  
I crank my neck to follow your departure with my eyes. _Potter finally lost his knickers for real_, Blaise says loudly to the table and I turn away from your retreating form to look at Zabini.  
  
_It was bound to happen sooner or later_, I say and hear the closing of the door.  
  
***  
  
The next morning is slightly different which isn't bad since the last few weeks have always been the same. I lay awake last night because I had a lot of thinking to do and so I'm late for breakfast today.  
  
I enter the Great Hall and stop dead in my tracks as I see the all to familiar scene played out before me. Some of my housemates look up, Blaise rolling his eyes mouthing _It's getting old_ and I nod but dare not to move.  
  
Your back is turned to me and you stand a few feet away. I can see the way your body tenses when they taunt you but all I do is stare. I don't even think your Gryffindor fellows noticed me arriving.  
  
I watch as they complain about your behaviour as usual but my eyes narrow when I hear you speaking back to them – really speaking back to them for the first time and I grit my teeth in anger when I notice your voice is still shallow and empty.  
  
_Don't pretend to know me. Because you don't._  
  
The Gryffindors are momentarily shocked into silence and you turn your back on them, ready to leave. Your eyes are cast towards the ground – lately you seem to find the floors of Hogwarts fascinating – and you walk towards me and then walk on by.  
  
It's in that moment that I snap. How can you not notice me even if I stand right before you? Even when my eyes pierce into your back, searching for your soul – knowing it is miles away – somewhere hidden in a dark room just waiting to be found.  
  
Without really thinking about it – without really planning to – I whirl around and catch your wrist in my hand, feeling you flinch at the harsh touch. And it seems like hours when you turn your head back towards me, your eyes slowly flickering up to meet mine.  
  
For a moment these eyes are startled and surprised and I inhale a deep breath as I see a flicker of green in them. But in a second those eyes are empty again and the blackness startles me and I'm not sure if this flicker of green was reality or just my imagination.  
  
I don't know what possesses me to pull you towards me but all I know is that in the next moment we're closer than we've ever been before in our lives. Our bodies are inches apart and I look into your face, your eyes are black and my grip tightens. I can feel you tense even more.   
  
The need to see those green eyes again, to see them sparkle and shine with anger, overcomes me, it blinds my senses enough to make me a mad man when I'm in your presence.  
  
_Stop it, Potter._  
  
I hear myself tell you, loud and clear, but in reality I don't know what the hell I'm about to say. It seems my brain too has stopped working around you. It's a shame, really.  
  
_Or I'll be the one saving you._  
  
Before I can even really comprehend what I just said I'm shocked by the bright green light in your eyes, the way they widen slightly as if they'd recognized what I was meaning long before I even did. You look confused for a moment as if you'd just woken up from a dream and found yourself in the Great Hall and I guess that's just what you have.  
  
Scared - because for a moment there, you lost control and forgot to hate me (to hate everything) – you tear your eyes away from mine, turn around and run out of the Hall.  
  
And as my eyes watch your departure I just wished I had confronted you sooner because I know I could have saved you from falling all along from the very beginning.  
  
-----------------------------------------------------------------  
  
**So, what do you think?******


	2. Part Two: Dream of a Saviour

**Author:** Dany  
**Rated:** PG-13 (for now)  
**Spoilers:** So far none.  
**Summary:** Some things can only be seen from a distance. Some people can only be loved, when they were hated first. D/H SLASH  
**Disclaimer:** I do not claim or own the characters. I'm just borrowing them :)  
**Feedback:** Sure, mail me/review and tell me what you think :)  
  
**Author's Note:** Thanks for the lovely reviews =) I'm glad you guys like it! This story is set in Harry's and Draco's seventh Year at School. I think some questions will be answered, once you've read this chapter. Enjoy =) and please review!  
  


  
**Part Two: Dream of a Saviour**

  
It's in the library where we meet again.  
  
It's a dream I had last night that convinces me to go to the library in the first place. I'm not often seen in this place, where these dusty bookshelfs and their torn books stare blankly back at me, willing me to put them out of their shelves and brush the dust off them. I don't like the library. It reminds me of home.  
  
As I enter the room Madam Pince looks up from whatever she was doing and eyes me for a moment before going back to work and ignoring me completely. My feet drag me past these shelves. No one seems to be around and I know I must walk till the end of the hall to get to my destination: the Divination section.  
  
But before I can get there, I walk past another bookshelf and I can see someone out of the corner of my eye. Before I even turn my head I know it's you who's sitting there, leaning over a book with those half closed eyes of yours.  
  
For a moment I stand there completely frozen, unaware of the fact that I should be moving, and watch you turn another page of the book. My gaze lingers on your hands for a moment and I watch them glide over the page in an almost sad manner before you crease the page by turning it. Something about it lets me hesitate before I walk past you to find the book I came for.  
  
Standing before my own bookshelf now, I scowl at those old books, their letters of gold already fading. For the first few moments I do not find anything until my gaze stops at the clear silver writing of _Our dreams and their meanings_. I pull the book out and stare at it for a moment before turning around and walking back along the hallway, fully intending to take the book with me and read it in my dorm room.  
  
But when I'm about to walk by on you my steps suddenly falter and my feet protest against any sort of movement. As I turn my head to watch you again some part of me warns me from doing so but it is already too late. Because now my eyes are fixed back on those hands of yours and when you turn another page I realize that I should go. But I also realize something else.  
  
I cannot do that.  
  
The book feels heavy in my hands and I feel like it will slip out of them any moment. Suddenly my feet are moving again, dragging me towards you but it seems like my brain is still detached from my body. Finally when I'm two feet away from you, you look up – ready to cast one of your dark glances – and look me straight in the eye.  
  
I hold my breath as I look into these green fires for a moment before I can see you tensing. It seems like you're not too happy to see, are you? Not that I didn't expect that anyway. No one is welcome by you anymore. Even Weasley learned that.  
  
You shut down your book quickly and are about to stand up and flee from me (from yourself) but we both know that I won't let you this time, so you sit back down as quickly as you stood up. I hear you sigh, almost defeated.  
  
_Leave me alone._ You say, looking down at your book, your fingers dancing over the letters. I watch them for a second before answering. _No. I can do that no longer._ Why am I standing here? Why am I not leaving? I don't understand what's happening to me. But I know it's your fault. It's **all** your fault.  
  
_You wanted a saviour. Here he is._ I'm shocked to hear my voice only slightly sarcastic, so deep, so intense, so **real**. But you don't look up, you don't even blink and I get frustrated by watching your fingers dance over the cover again and again. Why is it that you are paying your book more attention than me?  
  
My thoughts are interrupted by your mocking laugh, but it sounds hollow and dead. I shudder and I know I hate your laughters so much.  
  
_My saviour?!_ You say and snicker darkly. _You can never be my saviour, Malfoy! You can't save anyone and certainly not me._ I glare at you, something in me so angry that I can barely control it.  
  
It takes another glance at your fingers to shatter my control and I see myself pull you out of your chair and roughly against me. Since when have I become so touchy, I wonder silently and then I look down at you.   
  
_Goddamn you, look at me.  
  
_You slowly lift your head and I'm bathed in this green ocean, these cold waters and hot flames. For a moment, I just stare, thinking about these eyes that remind me so much of the fire in the Slytherin common room. We stare at each other and I can see something changing in those eyes. I don't know what it is but my grip on your robe loosens a bit anyway.  
  
_I don't know what you dream about at night or what you wish for when you're awake. But what I do know is that you've been calling out for someone for a long time now. Well you think no one has heard you screaming? You think no one has seen you cry these tears of bitterness? I have. I have for the longest time now and do you know what?  
  
_I pull you closer, my lips brushing your ear, both our breaths being uneven and hitched. I can almost feel you tremble against me.  
_  
I **hate** it. It drives me completely mad, it tears my skin apart and makes me have nightmares at night. I **can't** stand it any longer, these dark rooms and silent screams. I cannot stand the pain that I feel everyday. This pain that I feel because of **you**. And even if I shut my eyes, even if I shut my ears with my hands, I can still hear you, even louder than before. There is no place I can go that I can't feel you, no moment that I can stop thinking of you. Stop watching you. It has to end. It's **got** to stop.  
_  
Silence is all that is left now, our bodies pressed against each other, or breaths ragged and our minds full of thoughts. I can only remember half of what I said but I know that whatever it was it had to be said. It's strange but I feel better now.  
  
I'm no longer gripping your robe but you still don't move away, looking up into my eyes as if you are looking in them for the very first time. There's so much I can see in those eyes now, so much fear and uncertainty. So much passion. It takes my breathe away._  
  
I'm sorry_.You finally whisper but I do not know what you're talking about. I watch as you step back, gathering up your book and walking by on me. I turn around and watch your back.  
_  
For what? _I hear myself asking dumbly and you spin around, looking at me and there's something different. Your body is not tense any longer and your hands have stopped dancing over the book. They are gripping it firmly now.  
_  
For not believing. _You say softly before you turn away from me and walk out of the library, leaving me with my Dreams book in my hand. For a moment, I stand there, moved yet frozen before I look down on the cover._ Our dreams and their meanings_, these letters stare back at me as if to mock me.  
_  
_And then I smile. I smile because I know that I don't need this book any longer. Because I've just realized the meaning of my dream.


	3. Part Three: Ashes Of The Future

**Author:** Dany  
**Rated:** PG-13 (for now)  
**Spoilers:** So far none.  
**Summary:** Some things can only be seen from a distance. Some people can only be loved, when they were hated first. D/H SLASH  
**Disclaimer:** I do not claim or own the characters. I'm just borrowing them :)  
**Feedback:** Sure, mail me/review and tell me what you think :)  
  
**Author's Note:** Thanks a bunch for your reviews! Sorry it took me so long to put up another chapter but I'm having finals/exams at the moment and I find myself less and less inspired :( Anyway, have fun reading this chapter and please REVIEW =)  
  
Thanks to Leonie for beta-reading and to Glory for inspiring me whenever we talk. =)  
  


  
**Part Three: Ashes Of The Future**

  
Sometimes I think that fate plays tricks on us. But then again, I don't even believe in something like fate. To be honest, I'm not even sure what I believe in.  
  
I know I believe in power. I believe in strength. I believe in myself. But shouldn't there be more to it? If this is all that life has to offer then it's not much. In fact, it's far from enough. I often wonder if I'm the only one feeling this way. If I'm the only one of us Slytherins, whose ambitions go much further than pleasing the Dark Lord. Am I the only one craving more than there is to crave, the only one who will not stop till he gets himself killed because of his need for knowledge? His need for feelings?  
  
Yes, it seems so. But that is what makes me different from them, what makes me better than them. The ability to see people for real, to notice things no one else does, has been with me all my life and I'm using it for my advantage all the time. Which is not wrong, considering if I did not have this ability, I would've been killed a long time ago. That's also part of the reason why I trust no one other than myself.  
  
So, people think I'm cold and heartless. They think I'm detached from everything that's going on around me, they believe I don't need, don't want anything. They believe that everytime they look into my eyes, they will be cold. And hard, yes, even controlled.  
  
But beneath the surface, I'm human. I'm passionate. And I'm out of control like everyone else. No one knows of course, like it should be, but it's the truth. If you'd touch my skin you'd find it warm just like yours, and if you'd cut me I'd bleed like everyone else. That's the truth despite what people might say.  
  
It's almost funny, but as I stare into these green flames in the Slytherin Common Room, I'm once again reminded that I'm indeed human.  
  
I blink, because my vision has gotten blurry from all the staring, and slowly shift my gaze back to the book in my hands. It's leather bound, heavy and cold in my hands. My eyes narrow as I stare at the title of it.  
  
_Dark Potions and what they do to drive you mad _is written on it in gold letters. I scowl at it. The title itself sounds promising and seems to be the right thing for me but just the thought from where – or better whom it came from gives me the creeps.  
  
It may sound bizarre but the smell of Malfoy Manor – the smell of my father – is all over it and I can't do anything but deteste this book from the very beginning before I've even opened it. Ironic, isn't it? The letter that came with the book didn't do much to lift my spirits either. In fact, I'm still angry about it.  
  
I sigh, trying to calm down because I know there's no use in getting upset. Lifting up my gaze, I stand up and drop the book with a thud, getting some wide-eyed looks from a few First Years'. I scowl at them because they are innocent and stupid. They're not strong enough to survive. Not yet anyway.  
  
The person in the armchair next to me, Blaise Zabini, looks up abruptly. He raises his eyebrows slightly but I ignore him, bending to pick up the book. I'm in front of the fire now, so close, and stare at it before I open the book in the middle. I read the first two lines of the page before letting my hand glide over it.  
  
In one swift moment I rip at least fifty pages out of the book and then throw them into the fire, watching as the green flames eat away on it, wrinkling the pages and turning them black, leaving nothing but ashes behind.  
  
I throw the rest of the book into the fire and watch it burn and fade away from me. I watch as the smooth cover of it gets wrinkled and the gold letters slowly fade to an ugly brown. The book seems to be burning away for a very long time but in reality it only takes a minute for the fire to destroy it completely.  
  
I notice the stares that I'm getting from everyone, but I pay no attention to it. Let them stare and wonder, I think, let them talk about my strange behaviour when I'm gone. I don't care anymore.  
  
The smell of burnt paper reaches my nose and I inhale it deeply, closing my eyes, imagining it'd be someone else burning away right in front of me. But as I open my eyes again, I know that the time for my 'wish' to happen is still quite far away.  
  
Finally, after watching the flames for a while, I turn to Blaise. Our eyes meet but our minds do not. Blaise does not understand, he does not need to. I turn away from him without a word ready to walk out of the Common Room and to wander the Dungeon corridors for yet another night.  
  
_Don't follow me _is the only thing I tell him before leaving. Because that's the only thing he needs to know.


	4. Part Four: Touching Me, Touching You

**Author:** Dany  
**Rated:** PG-13 (for now)  
**Spoilers:** So far none.  
**Summary:** Some things can only be seen from a distance. Some people can only be loved, when they were hated first. D/H SLASH  
**Disclaimer:** I do not claim or own the characters. I'm just borrowing them :)  
**Feedback:** Sure, mail me/review and tell me what you think :)  
  


**Author's Note: **Thanks so much to everyone for your lovely reviews, they mean a lot to me! I apologize for not updating a month XD but at least this chapter is twice as long as the previous one :) I hope you enjoy reading it, because I stayed up till 4am writing it and I really like how it turned out! R&R!

  
Also thanks to Glory for being my muse and to Leonie for beta-reading and correcting my evil typos!  
  


  
**Part Four: Touching Me, Touching You**

  
I woke up with a strange and uneasy feeling today. Similar to foreboding but yet much worse than that. Something is running through my veins and it makes my blood feel cold and my body tense. It bites the flesh from the inside, wanting to get out, wanting to hunt and slivering up and down beneath my skin. It's warning me that sooner or later – whatever it is – it's going to break free and cause its damage.

  
Six hours have passed and I'm still restless as hell. In fact, the feeling of foreboding has gotten much stronger in the past fifteen minutes and I can barely manage to keep up my calm façade. Because of this I decide to skip lunch, try and rest a bit in my room – without success, of course – and am now making my way down deeper and deeper into the dungeons to the classroom where _Potions_ is going to be taught.

  
I'm still quite early and so I take my time, my footsteps echoing lonely throughout the hallways. Everything else is silent and only the soft dripping of water somewhere down the halls can be heard. I know my way to _Potions_ by heart and so my mind wanders, my feet carrying me automatically in the right direction. Whenever I'm down in the dungeons my head seems to calm down a bit and my headache seems to be fading. Down here I'm without the sickening chatting of the other students, who go on and on about nothing for seemingly endless hours; and without any walls that I built up around myself.

  
Down here, I'm free.

  
Of course, the dungeons are neither warm nor cozy with water dripping down on the walls and with the cold biting in your flesh. But at least they feel save. I can understand exactly why Professor Snape prefers these dark corridors over the Great Hall.

  
I'm brought out of my reverie when I finally arrive at the _Potions_ classroom. The door is wide ajar and I enter, knowing that no one of the other students is going to be there yet, they always arrive a few minutes before class starts. Snape is already there, of course, but he does not seem to have the need to ankowledge my presence and continues to correct essays.

  
Mentally shrugging, I decide to take a back seat in the left corner today and as I put my things down on the table, Snape finally looks up and greets me with a curt nod which I return silently. The old man has never been one to talk much and I guess that's why he's also my favourite teacher. As strange as it sounds, in a way I can relate to him and his cold composure. I don't know much about him – I think no one actually does, except maybe that old fool Dumbledore – but I know why he is the way he is. And I respect that.

  
He goes back to work and I sit down, opening the thick _Potions_ book and beginn to read chapter seven of the heavy book. The written words barely register in my mind, the feeling of uneasiness in my stomach starting again and I can hear my blood rushing through my veins. I feel my hands starting to sweat and I try to stop them from trembling but it doesn't work.

  
Something is so very wrong today. If I could only figure out what it is.

  
I sigh and look up, rubbing my eyes with my hands and then trying to relax. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Snape vanishing into another room, probably to get some potion indegrients. I lean over the book again and beginn to read. Two sentences, six sentences, a paragraphe.

  
The blood rushing to my head seems to get louder and everything else seems so far away. I suddenly feel my heart pounding loud but I cannot understand why. The letters in front of me are blurred. The sound of my heartbeat draws nearer and I silently ask myself if it can even do that before something abruptly snaps me out of my daze and I realize that the sounds I hear is not my heartbeat, but actually footsteps drawing nearer to the classroom.

  
I sit up straight, wondering who could be making his way to this class so early. Snape and me have never been interrupted in our 'Pre-Potions' time. No one bothers to come down here until he really has too. Until now, it seems.

  
The footsteps stop and I turn my head looking to the door, curious who it might be. I'm more than a little surprised when it's you standing in the doorway. You let your eyes travel over the empty classroom but you haven't noticed me yet.

  
My eyes graze over your body slowly, noting that you seem well rested compared to the last time I saw you. Your hair is ruffled as always but there are no longer shadows under your eyes. I shut my book and in a second your eyes are on me, slightly widening, and you take a few steps towards me.

  
_Malfoy_, you greet and it sounds as if you've never said my name outloud before. Your voice is deeper than usual and your eyes study me for a moment. Something inside of me makes me feel hot and I shiver when I look into these emerald green eyes of yours.

  
_Potter_, I return as greeting but it doesn't seem important because at this very moment my eyes are burning into yours and our souls are battling for something we call power but which - in reality - is just life.

  
Staring up at your face, I wonder how this encounter is going to turn out. Will it be 'civil' like our last conversation or is it going to turn into a fight? I intend to find out. I shift my gaze away from your face and for a moment I consider if I should wait and let you make the first move, but then I realize that I've never let you before. So why should I start now?

  
_Where are your sidekicks? _I ask, drawling slightly and you narrow your eyes. _Thought you'd have made up with them by now. _I add off-handly and watch as the anger beginns to sparkle in your eyes, even if it's just slightly. Satisfaction runs through my veins and I stand up slowly, making us the same height once again.

  
I study your eyes and realize that I've been waiting for this moment ever since the last time that I saw you. It's been a long time ago that your anger has been directed towards me, a long time ago that we've glared at each other with all this hate we used to feel for each other and only just now do I realize how much I've missed that.

  
_Well, well,_ I drawl once again – knowing that it won't take long now to shatter your control, knowing which buttons to push – and my lips turn upwards into a small smirk. I pull up my right hand as if to cup your cheek but it stops mid-air, only an inch away from touching your soft skin. You study me intensely and I can see the wheels turning in your head and I know you're asking yourself over and over again 'What is he up to? What game is he playing?'.

  
A game, Harry Potter, that you will not be able to win.

  
_Looks like someone here is finally dropping their masquerade. _I finally say, a full smirk on my face now and although you don't move a muscle I can feel you flinch because you know that I'm right. The tension seems to built between us and then you finally snap and your eyes show a whirlwind of emotions – realisation, pain, anger but also something else that I just can't seem to describe with words. I don't know why or how but I've just seen something inside of you that no one else ever has. My hand reaches out to touch you but you jerk your head back, away from my touch.

  
_Don't you dare._ You whisper coldly but I can hear the slight trace of panic in your voice and I know that you're struggling with yourself at that very moment.

  
_You can't touch me._

  
You say but your voice cracks slightly and I start to chuckle silently, licking my suddenly dry lips. I lean towards you and once again I reach out to touch you, my fingertips getting in contact with the soft skin of your cheek trailing slowly up your face. This time you don't flinch away but I can feel you tremble – uncertain and so afraid.

  
_But I **am** touching you, Harry._ My voice drops to a hoarse whisper before my hand touches your raven hair and my thump caresses your forehead gently.

  
_Right here._ I whisper and softly tap your forehead. _Right here in your sweet little head. _Your eyes widen and you shiver because you know that what I'm saying is so very very true. Still smirking I pull you closer and you stumble against me, no longer being able to move. I turn my head slightly to the right so that I'm softly breathing in your ear and another shiver runs down your spine.

  
_And maybe…_ I whisper – lips brushing your ear -  my free hand sneaks between our bodies, running up your chest and stopping right at the place where your heart beats loud and steady. _… in some way even right there. _My fingers rub slightly against your chest to emphasize my saying and I feel the heat of your body against mine, the shudder of your breath down my neck, the way you gasp at the loss when I finally pull back to look you in the eyes again.

  
Green emeralds stare back at me surprised and you're shocked by my daring behavior, by the truth behind my words. Suddenly we're not rivals any longer, nor are we enemies, but something entirely different - something powerful and strong yet so fragile and lost.

  
My smirk turns into something like a smile as I step away from you. You stare at me as if you're too dazed to think clearly, your hot stare grazing over my body like fire. Something in the air changes and I feel my control slip slightly – suddenly feeling as if the tables have been turned.

  
My eyes flicker down to your mouth, to your pale pink and slightly parted lips, and my troath is suddenly dry, my heart beating wildly against my chest. I hear the blood rush through my body like a river and I run my tongue over my lips to wet them. For a moment I have the feeling that you're drawing ever closer to my face, that your lips part a bit more, your head bends slightly, until –

  
_Mr. Potter, _a sneering voice sounds through the classroom causing me to stumble back in shock, _I do hope you are not threatening Mr. Malfoy. Or I may be forced to take points off your house, **once again**._ The sarcastic tone of Professor Snape's voice is not lost on me, although I can't bother to look away from you.

  
You finally tear your eyes away from me, looking in Snape's direction slowly. Clearing your throat, you speak loudly. _Of course not, Professor._ You don't say anything else, cast one last glance at me – it seems like we've got our gazes locked for minutes – before packing your things up again and sitting down at the other end of the classroom.

  
I manage to sit down, shaking slighty. I try not to think about what just happened, about the way I lost control so easily and why my heart is beating faster than it ever has before.

  
My last thought before the first of my loud classmates arrive is how the hell I managed to lose the first round of my own fucking game? How is it possible that you can beat me on my own playfield?

  
Tell me, how?


End file.
